


What’s In A Name?

by cordeliadelayne



Category: Primeval
Genre: Cutter can't get over Claudia, Cutter is an Idiot, F/M, Getting Lost, If Only Cutter Weren't So Stubborn, They Might be Able to Move Forward
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 08:38:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8049598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cordeliadelayne/pseuds/cordeliadelayne
Summary: Getting lost in the woods gives Nick and Jenny chance to connect.





	What’s In A Name?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [reggietate](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=reggietate).



> Written for reggietate who gave the prompt, “map reading in the woods”.
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal in 2009.

"Just why are men incapable of asking for directions?"

Jenny’s voice is tight and sharp. There’s none of her usual pleasantries. They are reserved for people who are not him.

Nick bites back his first retort and settles on his second. “I know perfectly well where I’m going.”

“Really?”

Nick pauses and turns around. Jenny is pointing at a black and white polka dotted piece of fabric stuck on a branch. He sighs. It used to belong to Jenny’s scarf – the rest of which Jenny is twisting around her fingers – the perfect noose if she were so inclined. Nick had scoffed at the idea of needing to mark their route, but it would seem that Jenny had been right.

He was sure he’d never forget it.

“You have a map, I don’t see why you don’t use it.”

Nick opens his mouth and then closes it. The air is muggy, even here under the trees and he’s tired and fed up. Jenny being right all the time is becoming very annoying.

This morning an anomaly had opened up on the outskirts of the woods. Nothing had come through. But then Connor had run some calculations on his computer – something about the magnetic pull of the anomaly being off – and had discovered a second, and presumably smaller anomaly within the woods itself. Nick had remembered a clearing in the middle he’d visited once with Helen and started off in that direction. Stephen had tried to stop him or maybe join him, but one disgusted look had put him off. So Jenny had volunteered instead, surprising them all. And the others had split up and headed off in other directions. Nick’s only concession to Stephen had been to take the map that the other man had offered, and which now sat uselessly in his back pocket.

Jenny’s expression is even more fearsome than usual and he finds himself missing Claudia. At least she’s wearing sensible shoes this time, which is one less thing to worry about.

“Give it here,” Jenny says, holding out perfectly manicured hands.

Nick retrieves the map and passes it to her, feeling not unlike a naughty schoolboy. He watches as Jenny unfolds it with surprising ease and then as she studies it, her eyes glancing around at their surroundings.

Nick sits down on an upturned log and watches. He can’t help himself from comparing Jenny to Claudia. Jenny is all sharp lines and brittle edges while Claudia had been soft and delicate. Claudia though had had a tough inner core hidden under that surface; Jenny’s toughness is all on the outside. Wipe away that incessant make-up and Jenny would be Claudia he thinks. Would be perfect.

He shakes his head and turns away, wishing he’d thought to grab a bottle of water. He has to focus on this world now. It’s the only one he has.

“Here.” Jenny hands him a bottle of water and he takes a grateful swig before handing it back. “I think I see where we went wrong.” Nick smiles at her and is more grateful than he can say for the “we.”

“Not completely lost then?”

“No,” she says, and there is the sweetest hint of laughter in her voice. “I think if we backtrack down there and then follow the nature trail, we’ll be at the anomaly site in no time.”

Nick nods approvingly and stands up. It was hard to imagine that the others weren’t already there, that perhaps they were in need of assistance that was slow in coming.

Then Jenny’s phone rings and he listens in as she talks to someone – Abby by the sound of it. “Something like that,” she laughs and shoots a quick glance at Nick. Nick knows he should feel abashed or a least a little weary, but having their own private time together is doing strange things to his brain.

“All sorted?”

Jenny nods. “They were just worried about us.” She takes a few steps forward and her expression turns grim. “There’s no anomaly but there are footprints leading away from the clearing. Stephen’s tracking them and Connor’s trying to work out what it is. But I think they could do with your help.”

Cutter nods. “Lead on.”

She does. They are silent for the most part, each straining to hear anything that might be out of place in these woods, or indeed this millennia. But all is still and quiet.

Cutter should know by now that that is a far worse sign than noise and calamity, but he doesn’t say anything to Jenny. He’s busy admiring the way she walks, how she deftly side-steps broken branches and other pitfalls of the woods strewn about the forest floor. She seems comfortable here, amidst all this nature, in a way that he wouldn’t have imagined possible. He only thinks of her in terms of quick fire efficiency and sharp business angles, and as not-Claudia.

But she’s far more than that he’s beginning to see. He thinks he’s been too quick to judge her. That maybe he needs to start making concessions to other people instead of always expecting them.

“I’m sorry,” he says. Jenny stops and looks at him. “For getting us lost. And I was a little… brusque…before.”

Jenny smiles. “I think Stephen deserves more of an apology than I do.”

Cutter pauses and replays the earlier scene through his head. He deflates. Stephen had only been making sure that Cutter was fully equipped for a trek through the woods.

“Ah,” he says instead, and rubs a hand against the back of his neck. He’s amused to see Jenny’s eyes darting towards his stomach as his T-shirt rides up. He raises an eyebrow and she flushes, smiles, and looks away.

“We need to get moving,” she says and they do. Always moving, never a moment to stay still.

“It shouldn’t be much further,” she tells him and he hurries to catch up.

He has some things he ought to say to her. Explanations that are better done when they’re alone, and in a relatively good mood. He calls her name to stop her, running through various scenarios in his head. But Jenny’s spine has gone rigid and she doesn’t turn towards him.

“My name is Jenny,” she says through gritted teeth. He realises what he must have done, what apologies he must make. But a roar so loud the ground shakes with it interrupts them and there is no time. There’s always so little time.

Her name is Jenny and that’s all there is to it.


End file.
